Blogging the Latino Workforce

Congratulations Graduates!

This morning I noted that my alma mater, the University of Texas of El Paso, will be graduating its largest class ever – 2,275 students. Although that may not seem like a large number, consider there were only about 700 graduates when I went through commencement in 1990 with my undergraduate degree. Graduate numbers have tripled since then, and it’s an impressive increase over the course of two decades. Also consider that Hispanics at UTEP make up over 70% of the student body. The El Paso Community College system is also graduating about 1,400 students this weekend – again many of which are Hispanic students that will be going on to 4 year institutions. Multiply this number by the 224 Hispanic Serving Institutions around the United States (not including community colleges) and you can begin to see that Hispanic college graduates are growing in numbers. Yes, there is still a long way to go before Hispanic college graduates are graduating at the same levels as non-Hispanic whites, but progress is being made! Happy graduation!